Self Assembly Required

DIY dressmaking + crafts with Emily

The Pilvi Coatdress!

For this month’s Minerva Crafts Blogger Network make, I decided I’d get started on some autumn/ winter sewing and I’ve made the Pilvi dress from Named Clothing. This dress has been on my “to sew” list for some time now. I even had the pattern printed off and ready to be stuck together for several months but kept putting it off and off for some reason. I think it was waiting for this moment and this fabric to be made!

The Pilvi coat dress is a bit of a departure from what I’d consider my normal style. It’s essentially a fitted jersey trench coat which is worn as a dress! It has princess seams, deep pockets and is double breasted with a lovely rolled notched collar and belt. It’s smart and sassy and I love it!

I chose to make my version out of a khaki green ponte knit fabric. It’s a relatively stable knit with a decent amount of stretch – a great choice if you’re new to sewing knits by the way – and it was a breeze to sew up!

I made some alterations to the pattern before I started cutting my fabric, namely to shorten it. Named patterns are designed for a rather tall lady so I always need to take off a fair amount! I decided to take out 4cm from the waist of all my pattern pieces. I left the hem as it was as I figured I could always trim this at a later stage as needed!

This pattern was a dream to sew up. The instructions were good, the pattern drafted well. It could definitely be made in an afternoon or evening as it just seemed to come together so quickly!

I love the end result! I really love this colour at the moment (as well as all things mustard and rust coloured…). It’s got a bit of a military vibe and I kind of wish I went with some gold buttons to emphasise this!

It’s a great dress for the current season. The sleeves and longer length provides that extra bit of warmth when you’re trying to fend off the terrible British weather! It’ll be perfect worn with tights and boots!

In retrospect I could’ve taken out slightly more at the waist or done a sway back adjustment but I think the stretch of the fabric (and the belt) hides a lot of the fitting flaws. If I made it again I’d also narrow the shoulders slightly. I always seem to forget that I’ve got relatively narrow/ rounded shoulders and that I could actually adjust for this. I feel like my shoulders always look a bit droopy as the shoulder seam is ever so slightly too far over! (I’m totally just being nit-picky now as it doesn’t necessarily look bad. I just know it could’ve been better!).

I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to make this dress. I can definitely see this dress being a strong part of my winter wardrobe!

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4 Comments

  1. Oh WOW! I love this dress! You look fabulous! Excellent pattern and sewing inspiration. Thank you for sharing. 🙂

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